We have been assigning calculator to students for the past 4 years. We have lost a few from students moving suddenly in the middle of the year. But in general, it has been a positive thing.

We sign them out to students as freshmen. They turn the calculators in at the end of the year which allows us to update and inspect them for damage. Then we assign each student the same calculator the following year. That way they have any files they may have saved on their calculator to use the following year.

We have students sign a contract before they get their calculators in September and they must bring in 8 AAA batteries. One set to use right away and a second set that we keep for when batteries die.

In general, the students who lose their calculators have paid for them at the end of the year. We also hold the checks throughout the summer to see if they turn up when the building is cleaned.

For the last several years, we have assigned calculators to our Alg 2/Trig classes like a textbook. They are responsible for it for the year, and turn it in at the end of their regents exam. If they lose it, they have to pay for it. We are considering trying this with all of our classes next year, i.e. adding alg and geometry to the loaning process. Do any other schools do this? Has it been successful? We are worried that the younger students won?t be as responsible, and lose them. Please let us know if you have tried this and how it worked out for you! Or, do you require your students to buy their own graphing calculator in their freshman year?Thanks,Phyllis Frantel